Bitter Path
by Iceshadow911247
Summary: "I have sensed that one of the members of Big Green has a sensitivity to harmonic power. You are to infiltrate Big Green and earn their trust, and then you shall destroy the user of harmonic energy," Twinmasters ordered, his voice echoing. This sorceress was silent. This is not what she was expecting. (A rewrite of "Resolution".)


**Hi, all! It's been years since I've uploaded here.**

**This story is a rewrite of another story that I have on my account "Resolution". I read it last year just for kicks and cringed, and I really wanted to rewrite it again. So, here it is! This story will be adjusted from what I have written in "Resolution", so it will have differences.**

**The story focuses on my character, named Lei. If you're interested, here's a link to her character sheet on my Deviantart. Enjoy!**

** design-always/art/Dark-Ambassador-771305665**

A bronze-pelted tiger leapt over the ridge, pausing for a moment and looking down into the valley. There, far in the center, was the always-familiar red walls of the Citadel. He paused and looked back down the other side of the ridge.

"Hurry up!" He called over his shoulder. Moments later a golden lion joined him.

"Lǎohǔ, we have plenty of time." The lion responded, stopping next to him on the ridge. A third voice called from behind them.

"I would rather not get to the Citadel as fast as possible, if you don't mind." A third feline appeared from behind the ridge. Said feline was female and had a foreign look when compared to her Hidden Kingdom companions. Her long face and lithe frame didn't match any of the feline kingdoms known in the realm, neither Lion, Tiger, Cheetah, or even the Cat kingdom. But sorcerers never really do blend in with normal animals. "As far as I'm concerned," her icy blue eyes gazed at the lion and tiger beside her. "We're only here on business for Twinmasters, not Highroller." Her eyes narrowed disdainfully. _I don't want to be here_, she thought bitterly to herself.

"It must be serious if he summoned you back, Lei," the golden lion stated.

"It's been a year since we left, Jīnsè. If I had had the choice, we would've stayed here and no doubt this war would have been over in a month," Lei, the dark feline, said. "I knew every diplomatic mission we had been on, any tactic we made against Big Green would be reversed within a week of us leaving. I can only assume that Twinmasters has had enough of Highroller and decided that he should bring back the team that's actually useful to him," She shook out her fur and started making her way down the rocky ridge.

"I guess it's nice that Twinmasters is meeting us at the Citadel; we don't have to traipse any further across the Hidden Kingdom for today," Lǎohǔ bounded ahead of Lei and Jīnsè, pausing to let the other two catch up.

Lei reached the bottom of the ridge and she and her team picked up the pace now that the ground was flat, their paws carrying them quickly across the plain. She stared ahead at the Citadel. _What an ugly place, _her eyes narrowed, and she felt her stomach twist with every step closer to the city. The ground under her paws turned to stone, and Lei sprinted onto the pathway, racing alongside the river that surrounded the Citadel. The tall doors that were on each side of the Citadel were already open, no doubt that Lei and her team's arrival was already known to Highroller. She took a deep breath they passed under the shadows cast from the walls. Immediately passing the entrance, the inside of the Citadel was a cacophony of noise. Ducks and bears everywhere, crowding the entire place. Lei took the lead of her team and bounded up the inclined hills, craning her neck up to see the imposing structure of the main palace in the center. Within minutes they stood outside of the main doors. Lei slowed to a stop, the rough stone feeling unnatural to her paws after being away for so long. Up above on the balcony, two bear guards stood. They looked down to Lei and immediately set to opening the heavy doors.

"Looks like they were actually ready for us," Lǎohǔ mumbled from behind Lei.

"For once," Jīnsè replied. Lei ignored them and stepped forward into the palace. The tall walls arched up around them and she immediately felt claustrophobic.

"Let's go," Lei looked over to her team and stepped forward. It only took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dark interior and she trotted forward through the hallway.It only took them a few minutes to arrive at the throne room. Before them, at the end of the hall, in his chair sat Highroller. Lei paused for a moment before she started forward, approaching the elevated platform. She took a few steps before her form shifted, her legs elongating and thinning out, her ears flattening back into her head. Her ribs shifted back and forth and suddenly she was standing upright; a human.

"So, the witch returns," Highroller's mocking voice called out across the room. Lei's pale eyes lifted and she met his gaze, staring back at him.

"I was summoned; and so I did," Lei reached up and adjusted her hood, her voice loud and clear despite her face covering. Lǎohǔ and Jīnsè stopped beside her, the former on her right and the latter on her left.

"So, tell me," Highroller drawled. "What's it like to be able to prance about the Hidden Kingdom while the rest of us do all of the work to keep the war in our favor?" He asked her. Lei opened her mouth to snap a retort back when she stopped, the hairs on the back of her neck standing. The atmosphere thickened, like the feeling in the air before a storm breaks, yet there was a different kind of oppressiveness to it. In the next minute, the familiar trails of red and blue sunk through the ceiling, the spirals of light twisting and contorting until they formed into one. In an instant, Twinmasters stood in the center of the throne room.

"I see my favorite sorceress has returned," Twinsmaster's voices boomed into the air. Lei couldn't help but shoot a smug glance at Highroller, who had stood to his feet behind Twinmasters.

"We returned as soon as we received your summon from the eagle," Lei stood up straight, her hands behind her back, looking up to the titan.

"As you should have," Twinmasters told her, his mismatched eyes staring her down. "At least someone follows my orders," and though he did not look back to Highroller, Lei knew exactly what he meant.

"How may I be of service?" Lei asked, noticing how Highroller glowered bitterly at her.

"As you and I both know, your powers are of great use to our cause," Twinmasters said. "You are well-versed in your sorcery and the ways of chaotic energy," he commented.

_And the catch?_ Lei thought, for Twinmasters never gave compliments without a need for something in return.

"I have sensed that one of the members of Big Green has a sensitivity to harmonic power. You are to infiltrate Big Green and earn their trust, and then you shall destroy the user of harmonic energy," Twinmasters ordered, his voice echoing throughout the room.

Lei was silent for a few moments. _This is not what I was expecting, _was her first thought, and then, "Will I be able to take my team with me?"

"No." Twinmasters response cut coldly through the air. "While you will not be recognized, the Lion and Tiger kingdoms may recognize their former subjects. They will endanger your mission."

Lei glanced down to Lǎohǔ and Jīnsè, who remained quiet. She stayed quiet again for a few moments, her thoughts starting to race through her head.

"Are you refusing this order?" Lei's attention snapped back to Twinsmasters, his question breaking through her tumultuous mind. She caught a glimpse of Highroller from behind Twinmasters once more and noticed his interest had piqued with the possibility of her refusal.

"No," Lei looked back to Twinmasters. "I will of course accept this mission." She straightened her shoulders defiantly.

"Good," Twinmasters nodded approvingly. "Then go! There is no time to waste!" He snapped, his form disappearing with an unnerving cackle. He dissipated into the air as quickly as he appeared, and the air's tension lightened. The room was then left in silence, and Lei faced Highroller once more. The short man glared angrily at her.

"I hope you fail," He sneered at her.

"If I fail, then there's no hope for you to do any better," Lei growled back at him, her form contorting once more into her feline form. She turned on her heels and beckoned for Lǎohǔ and Jīnsè to follow her. She left the throne room and broke into a run once in the hallway. She and her team raced down the slopes of the Citadel and out of the doors.

"Where are we headed to?" Lǎohǔ asked her but Lei gave no response to him. She continued running towards the ridge that they had climbed down earlier, slowing to a stop at its base.

"Lei?" Jīnsè said quietly, stopping behind her.

"Sorry," Lei took a deep breath before continuing and she shook her head disdainfully. "I hate the Citadel."

"Makes two of us," Lǎohǔ settled back on his haunches. "So, what's the game plan? If we can't go, we can at least help you figure it out," he added.

"I have no idea," Lei turned back to face her team, her tail lashing behind her. "I don't know any of the Big Green soldiers; you know we left before things got serious," she sighed, and her form contorted again, her human-self kneeling down, her dark clothing standing out starkly against the green grass around her. She rubbed her face in frustration. "I was hoping it was just going to be diplomatic work since Highroller can't keep allies for anything."

"It can't be that hard, right?" Lǎohǔ asked. "Just find whoever you're looking for and use your powers, right? Just throw some rocks?" The tiger shifted his weight from paw to paw.

"It's not that easy; if I remember right, the Big Green base is in the middle of that inland sea in the middle of the kingdom," Lei stood and threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "You know that I can't just conjure things out of the air, I have to actually be in contact with it," she reached behind herself and placed her hand against the rocky wall of the ridge. Lei twisted her hand, her fingers gripping into the stone and a large crack snapped through the ridge, about midway through. "Twinmasters knows this, and I don't like the idea that I'm being sent somewhere with little chance to defend myself."

"I guess that would create a problem if you're in the middle of a big lake," Lǎohǔ admitted.

"Not only that, but the base is man-made. She won't have any luck finding natural elements to control there unless she's lucky, you idiot," Jīnsè added, taking a swipe at Lǎohǔ. The bronze tiger ducked and shot to his paws, growling at the golden tiger before him.

"Hey! Watch it!" The fur along Lǎohǔ's back bristled and the two big cats stared each other down for a moment.

"Hey!" Lei stamped her foot down, the tremors from her movement causing a thin barricade of stone to rise up from the ground, creating a small barrier between the cats. "Save your fighting for Big Green," she looked at them sternly. The two cats paused in their skirmish and settled back down.

"…What should we do?" Jīnsè asked after a moment of silence, not wanting to risk Lei's wrath.

"I would guess that you'd have to stay here in the Citadel," Lei suggested, shaking her head.

"That sounds awful," Lǎohǔ groaned in disappointment. "Of all places, here-"

"You heard what Twinmasters said," Jīnsè cut him off. "We might be recognized. I'm not about to be the one that puts a mission in danger." The lion glanced around nervously, as if he was worried that Twinmasters might be listening in. Lei looked around the plain around them before she changed back into her feline form.

"I agree with Jīnsè, it's not worth risking Twinmaster's anger and making any mistakes," Lei commented. "You'll have to stay here, or at least in the general area. Going around to the other kingdoms would risk too much." The trio sat in silence for a few moments before Lei stood to her paws. "I should be going; I'll at least take a few days to stake out the base."

"Be safe," Jīnsè bumped his head to hers, and Lǎohǔ did the same.

"Don't worry; I don't plan on failing," Lei told them confidently before she turned her back on them and the Citadel, bounding back up the rocky ridge and over the rise in the hill, bounding off across the Hidden Kingdom. Her team watched until she hit a line of forest and couldn't be seen, before they turned and headed back solemnly to the Citadel.

Lei ran silently through the forest, glad to be alone to her thoughts. _I'm not even that well-trained with chaotic energy._ She thought, but there had been no way she would have mentioned that to Twinmasters. Years of training and she had still never mastered the technique, but that would be a problem for a different day. The longer she had to her thoughts, however, the more apprehensive she became. She had never killed anyone, before. _At least not on purpose._ The sentence popped into her thoughts before she could stop it, and Lei shook her head rapidly, chasing the thought away. _Not the time_. She distracted herself with the prospect now of remembering her way through the Hidden Kingdom.

It took her the rest of the day to reach the general territory of Big Green, and only then did she slow down. _Nothing more suspicious than a strange feline sprinting their way towards Big Green. Anyone could be watching._ Lei slowed to a walk, lifting her nose to the air. She could smell the inland sea in the distance. Padding forward, she was grateful for her dark pelt; it helped her blend into the twilit shadows of the trees. She suddenly reached the edge of the forest, a rocky, beachy plain stretching before her to the water's edge. Beyond that, in the light of the moon, Lei could see the Big Green base. Lei inhaled and exhaled deeply; no turning back. Looking to her right, and then to her left, she turned and scaled up the nearest tree, slinking along one of the lower branches until she was hidden in the leaves, but still had a decent vantage point. Lei settled on the branch, growing still and waiting in silence.

She only had to wait a few hours before she noticed movement. A group, all in a line, racing along the beach from the north, heading back towards the base. Lei watched them quietly; they were moving faster than usual humans, and only once they were closer did she realize they were on turtles. _Ironic, _she thought to herself. They came close enough that as they neared the water's edge, Lei was able to notice individuals. She glanced over them; a short one with a square head, a girl, a short young man, another man, older, with no arms, a rabbit, and-

Lei paused, watching. The last one had stopped at the water's edge, the others going on ahead. He was the tallest of the bunch, not old but not young, either. He turned slowly. Lei noticed the change in the atmosphere.

_That's the one._ She realized immediately. The one suddenly turned and raised his hands to his eyes, his line of sight looking directly at Lei. The fur along Lei's back bristled and her ears pinned back, a cold shiver running through her body. _It can't be-._ Lei slowly backed further into the tree, hiding herself further in the leaves. A few harrowing moments passed before the man scanned the horizon, and he followed the others back to the base.

Lei let out a breath, not realizing she'd been holding it. _No, _was all she could think. She recognized _that_ one. Lei dug her claws into the branch she was on, stabilizing herself back into the real world and away from her tumultuous mind and memories.

_Twinmasters set me up,_ she realized immediately. _He knew._ Her eyes narrowed to angry slits and her claws dug in deeper into the tree. _How __**dare **__he, _she thought again, her tail starting to lash and a growl rising in her throat. This wasn't an unexpected mission from Twinmasters, this was something much more complex; but whatever Twinmasters' motives were, Lei had no idea. But she did know one thing.

_I shouldn't have come back._


End file.
